ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SOFTWARE

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Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-7 MySQL page
avoid if possible. If a company has existing inventory and product databases, then it should
evaluate only electronic commerce software that supports these systems.
Web Services
Companies are beginning to extend the idea of application server systems so that these
programs can communicate across organizational boundaries. Although a generally
accepted definition has not yet evolved, many IT professionals define Web services as a
combination of software tools that let application software in one organization communicate
with other applications over a network by using a specific set of standard protocols
known by their acronyms: SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL (these protocols are described below).
Another definition of Web services that IT professionals use is: a self-contained, modular
unit of application logic that provides some business functionality to other applications
through an Internet connection.
What Web Services Can Do
Companies are using Web services to offer improved customer service and reduce costs.
In some companies, Web services are used to provide the XML data feeds that flow from one
application to another in enterprise application integration efforts. In other applications,